Expandable cabinet assembly



April 28, 1970 Filed July 18, 1968 C. E. SCHROER EXPANDABLE CABINET ASSEMBLY HHI mum-P H-HHIHIYIIII'I l l' 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR CHARLES E. SCHROER BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,508,802 EXPANDABLE CABINET ASSEMBLY Charles E. Schroer, Columbus, Ind., assiguor to Hamilton Cosco, Inc., Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed July 18, 1968, Ser. No. 745,937 Int. Cl. A47b 45/00 US. Cl. 312-205 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An expandable cabinet assembly for bindingly retaining a plurality of cabinets between a pair of vertically spaced surfaces in which there is provided a first cabinet having a pair of side walls interconnected by front and bottom walls. A second cabinet is slidably carried in the first cabinet and comprises a pair of side walls interconnected by front, top, and bottom walls. The cabinets are provided with interfitting flange and guide elements for guiding the movements of the second cabinet with respect to the first. A sleeve is carried in aligned openings in the bottom walls of the cabinets and has a stop fixedly mounted in its lower end. A plunger is slidably carried in the sleeve and projects thereabove for connection to the second cabinet. A spring is carried in the sleeve with its opposed ends bearing against the stop and plunger for thus urging the second cabinet upwardly with respect to the first so that with the first cabinet resting against one supporting surface the upper end of the second cabinet will bear against a second surface vertically spaced from said first surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In various modular cabinet structures it is frequently difficult to locate them in a fixed position with respect to a wall surface. In many instances it requires defacing the wall surface or a horizontal supporting surface, such as a shelf, floor, or the like, to effect such location.

The instant invention overcomes these difficulties by providing an expandable cabinet assembly which will bindingly retain a stack of modular cabinets between a pair of vertically spaced surfaces without the necessity of using any fasteners, and which at the same time will have an appearance which will coordinate and blend in with such a stack of modular cabinets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one form of the invention, a first cabinet is adapted to rest on a modular cabinet supported on a first supporting surface, such as a shelf or the like. Said first cabinet comprises a pair of side walls interconnected by front and bottom walls. A second cabinet is slidably carried in said first cabinet and comprises a pair of side walls interconnected by front, bottom, and top walls. Each of said first and second cabinets is provided with lips slidably engaging the walls of the other cabinet and said first cabinet is provided with a pair of guides in which flanges on the second cabinet are slidably received for guiding the sliding movements of said second cabinet.

A sleeve having a stop in its lower end is carried in aligned openings in the bottom walls of said first and second cabinets. A plunger is slidably carried in said sleeve and projects thereabove for connection to the top wall of the second cabinet. A spring is carried in the sleeve with its ends bearing against said stop and plunger to urge the plunger, and thus the second cabinet, upwardly whereby said second cabinet can be disposed in binding engagement with a second supporting surface, such as a ceiling, a second shelf, or the like, vertically spaced from said first supporting surface. Conveniently,

3,508,802 Patented Apr. 28, 1970 ICC resilient members are mounted on the upper end of said second cabinet to engage said second supporting surface.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a cabinet assembly embodying the invention with portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the cabinet assembly is employed in combination with a base cabinet 10 adapted to be supported on a shelf or other supporting structure 11. Such base cabinet may comprise a pair of side walls 13 and 14 interconnected by a back wall 15, top wall 16 and bottom wall 17. Pairs of longitudinally spaced flanges 19 and 20 project laterally inwardly from the forward edges of the side Walls 13 and .14 for the reception of upper and lower vertically slidable doors 21 and 22 for opening and closing the cabinet 10.

The bottom wall 17 is adapted to rest on the supporting surface 11, and the top wall 16 has a rectangular wall 24 projecting upwardly therefrom for engagement with the bottom of the expandable cabinet assembly forming the subject matter of the invention.

As shown, my cabinet assembly comprises a lower cabinet 28 in which an upper cabinet 30 is slidably carried with the upper end of said cabinet 30 being engageable with a ceiling, shelf, or the like 31, disposed in vertically spaced relation to the supporting surface 11. As will be hereinafter described, means are provided for bindingly retaining the entire cabinet assembly between the surfaces 11 and 31 for thus retaining said assembly in fixed position with respect to said surfaces.

The cabinet 28 comprises a pair of side walls 34 and 35 interconnected by a front wall 36. As shown, the bottom wall 37 is adapted to rest on the wall 24 of cabinet 10, and may, if desired, be connected to the top wall 16 of cabinet 10 by a plurality of bolts 38. Inwardly extending lips 40 are provided at the upper ends of the side and front walls 3436, and each of said side walls is provided at its rearward edge with a pair of longitudinally spaced, vertically extending flanges 42 and 43, the upper ends of which terminate immediately below the rearward edges of the lips 40'. As shown in FIG. 3, a downwardly presented U-shaped bracket 46 is mounted on the upper ends of the flanges 43 and extends across the rear of the cabinet 28.

The cabinet 30, which is slidably carried in cabinet 28, has a smaller cross-section than cabinet 28 and comprises a pair of side walls 49 and 50 interconnected by a front wall 51 and bottom wall 52. As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of flanges 54 project laterally outwardly from the rear edges of the side walls 49 and 50 and are slidably received between the pairs of flanges 42 and 43 on cabinet 28. The bottom wall 52 is provided with outwardly projecting lips 56 slidably engaging the inner faces of the walls 34-36 of cabinet 28. The cross-sectional extent of the cabinet 30 is sufficiently smaller than the cross-sectional extent of the cabinet 28 such that the front and side walls 4951 of cabinet 30 will slidably engage the inner edges of the lips 40 on cabinet 28 and the rear edges of the side Walls 49 and 50 will slidably engage the bracket 46. Thus, the vertical sliding movements of the cabinet 30 will be guided by the sliding interengagement of the several components of the cabinets 28 and 30 with the lips 40 and 56 serving to limit the upward movement of cabinet 30 with respect to cabinet 28.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the upper ends of the side and front walls 49-51 terminate in a horizontally disposed inwardly projecting ledge 58 which is continuous with upwardly projecting continuations 49', 50' and 51' of the side and front walls 49-51. The upper ends of the walls 4951' are integral with an outwardly projecting stretch 60 terminating at its outer edge in an upwardly projecting U-shaped wall 62. A floor 64 forming the top wall of cabinet 30' extends across the wall 62 and is provided with a pair of openings 65. As shown in FIG. 3, resilient grommets 68 are mounted in the openings 65 and are adapted to engage the surface 31 when the cabinet 30 is slid upwardly in cabinet 28.

In order to bindingly retain the upper end of cabinet 30 in engagement with the surface 31, a sleeve 70 is mounted in aligned openings 71 and 72 in the cabinet bottom walls 37 and 52. As shown, said sleeve projects downwardly from the bottom wall 37 into engagement with the top wall 16 of cabinet and upwardly above the upper edge of cabinet 28, A stop 74 is fixedly mounted in the lower end of sleeve 70 as by a pin 76. A plunger 78 is slidably carried in the upper end of sleeve 70 and projects upwardly therefrom with its upper end received in a socket 80 formed in the floor 64 of cabinet and braced by a rib formed in the floor 64 and interconnecting said socket to the wall 62. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper end of the plunger 78 is received in the socket 80 and is shouldered to engage the bottom face of floor 64. In order to urge the plunger 78, and thus the cabinet 30 upwardly with respect to the cabinet 28, a spring 82 is mounted in the sleeve 70 with its opposed ends bearing against the stop 74 and plunger 78.

Thus, in order to mount the assembly between the surfaces 11 and 31, the cabinets 10, 28 and 30 are assembled in the manner shown in FIG. 3. Then, with the cabinet 30 forced downwardly in cabinet 28 against the compression of spring 82, the cabinet 10 is placed on the surface 11, and the cabinet 30 is then released to permit the spring 82. to slide said cabinet upwardly with respect to cabinet 28 until the grommets 68 are in engagement with the surface 31. Thus, the cabinet assembly will be bindingly retained between the opposite vertically spaced surfaces 11 and 31.

The illustrated embodiment is adapted -to be mounted against a wall surface with the open rear faces of the cabinets 28 and 30 abutting said wall surface. It is to be understood, however, that, if desired, the rear faces of said cabinets can be closed, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. An expandable cabinet assembly, comprising a first cabinet having a plurality of vertically extending walls interconnected by a bottom wall, a second cabinet slidably carried in said first cabinet and having a plurality of vertically extending walls interconnected by a bottom wall, vertically extending guide means on one of said cabinets and flange means on the other of said cabinets slidably received in said guide means, a sleeve carried in aligned openings in the bottom walls of said cabinets, a stop in said sleeve, a plunger slidably carried in said sleeve and projecting outwardly therefrom for connection to said second cabinet, and a spring bearing against said stop and plunger urging said second cabinet upwardly with respect to said first cabinet whereby said cabinets can be bindingly retained between a pair of vertically spaced surfaces.

2. An expandable cabinet assembly as set forth in claim 1 in which said second cabinet has a top wall and a plurality of resilient members are mounted in said top wall and project thereabove for engagement with one of said vertically spaced surfaces.

3. An expandable cabinet assembly as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said second cabinet has a top wall provided with an upstanding wall along its edges, a socket is provided in said top wall for reception of said plunger, a rib extends across said top wall interconnecting said socket and upstanding wall, and a plurality of resilient members are mounted on said top wall and project above said upstanding wall for engagement with one of said vertically spaced surfaces.

4. An expandable cabinet assembly, comprising a first cabinet having a pair of side walls interconnected by front and bottom walls, a second cabinet slidably carried in said first cabinet and having a pair of side walls interconnected by front, top and bottom walls, vertically extending guide means along the inner faces of a pair of walls in said first cabinet, flange means on said second cabinet slidably received in said guide means, a sleeve carried in aligned openings in the bottom walls of said first and second cabinets, a stop fixedly mounted in said sleeve, a plunger slidably mounted in said sleeve and projecting outwardly therefrom for connection to said second cabinet, and a spring bearing against said stop and plunger urging said second cabinet upwardly with respect to said first cabinet whereby said cabinets can be bindingly retained between a pair of vertically spaced surfaces.

5. An expandable cabinet assembly as set forth in claim 4 with the addition that the side walls on said first cabinet are interconnected by a transverse bracket slidably engageable with said second cabinet.

6. An expandable cabinet assembly as set forth in claim 4 with the addition that the bottom wall on said second cabinet has outwardly projecting lips slidably carried against the inner faces of the front and side walls of said first cabinet, and the front and side walls of said first cabinet have inwardly projecting lips slidably engageable with the outer faces of the front and side walls of said second cabinet.

7. An expandable cabinet assembly as set forth in claim 4 in which said guide means comprise pairs of flanges projecting inwardly from the rear edges of the side walls on said first cabinet, and said flange means comprise laterally projecting flanges on the rear edges of the side walls on said second cabinet.

8. An expandable cabinet assembly as set forth in claim 4 with the addition that the bottom wall on said second cabinet has outwardly projecting lips slidably carried against the inner faces of the front and side walls of said first cabinet, the front and side walls of said first cabinet have inwardly projecting lips slidably engageable with the outer faces of the front and side walls of flanges projecting inwardly from the rear edges of the side walls on said first cabinet, and said flange means comprise laterally projecting flanges on the rear edges of the side walls on said second cabinet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS NICE C. BYERS, 111., Primary Examiner 

